The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1887-12-29
MINISTER'S IN POLITICS.
Geo. B. Mckinney in New York Pioneer.
RELIGION A POLITICAL FORCE.

!. They represent the religious sentiment
which is most essential to the success of any
great political reform. Richard Golden, the
great English advocate Of free trade, was
more of a politician than Of o religionist;
Morley tells us that "there is scanty evil
dence of anything like an intense spiritual
ity in his nature" yet he recognized the
necessity of q religious spirit to the success
If his work. In 1888 he first showed great
interest IN the matter of the corn laws.
Speaking of the various elements, he said:
II think the scattered elements may yet be
rallied around the question Of the corn laws.
It appears to me that q moral, and even q
religious spirit must be enforced into that
topic, and if agitated in the same manner
that the question of slavery has been, it will
be irresistible" And in a letter to George
Conbe in 1916, Golden said Of religious
feeling: Il reverence it as the great leverage
which has moved mankind to powerful &C
ton" Henry George, who is at least an
e~minently practical politician, In an article
in tn. North American Review of last July,
spoke of the religious spirit as the most pow
erful of all political factors.
MUCH EXPECTED OF THE CHURCH.
2. The world is looking to the Church
for right guidance in politics, and particu-
larly to the ministry, 1t was SO in the mat
ter Of slavery. l have said that the Liber-
ty and Free Soil parties were successful in
proportion to the activity Of the Christian
ministry in politics during the time of their
existence. And it is so. It was the activ-
ity of men like Goodell, Fairchild, Wiley,
and other Christian ministers that gave those
parties strength. 1t was because the great
majority Of the clergy were silent about or
hostile to the Liberty and Free Soil parties
that these parties did not triumph, and to
that is to be traced the real origin Of the
Civi. War. It was the silence or hostility
of the clergy toward the great reform move
ment that led James G. Birney to speak of
the Church as .'the bulwark of the slave
trade" and Stephen Foster to write q tract,
entitled. "The Church o brotherhood Of
Thieves" 1t was the GOODNESS of a majority
Of the clergy toward the anti-slavery move
ment that fostercd infdelity in the land
more than any other one thing. The Rev.
John Pierpont brought honor to the Chris
tian Church by zealously advocating aboli-
ton; but the action Of his congregation
brought eternal dishonor upon il, for upon
July n, 1910, the Rev, John Pierpont was
arraigned before an ecclesiastical council in
Boston by q committee Of his church, for
"his too busy interference with questions
Of legislation on the subject Of prohibiting
the sale Of ardent spirits, his too busy inter-
ference with questions Of legislation on the
subject Of imprisonment for debt, and his
too busy interference with the popular con
troversy on the subject Of the abolition of
slavery" That church and the ecclesiast-
ical council believed that ministers ought
not to NEEDLE in politics" and acted upon
that belief, but the world looked upon its
belief as born of the devil, and upon its &C
ton as disgraceful, and the world was right.
Later on, however, the Church entered the
arena Of politics. James G. Blaine ia his
.sTwenty Ycars.of Congress- Vol. I, Oh. s,
.. 118) writes Of the situation in 1864, t'Ev-
cry other issue was merged into the one alb
sorbing demand by Southern shareholders
for what they sincerely believed TO be their
rights in the Territories. .......I II Was felt TO
be D question, not Of expcdiency, but Of hon
OF. II did not merely enlist men. Women
took . large part in the agitation. i did
not end IN absorbing the laity. The clergy
were - profoundly concerned. The power
OF the Church on both sides Of the dividing
line WAS used With great sfact n shaping
md moulding politicAl action.'
lcp1rI4Crp ssxr WISE,